Dave said..."Cities are the only environment in which I feel comfortable. The larger the better."

I'm completely the opposite. I suppose that the very things that makes big city living appealing to some people are the same things that make it repulsive to others. Now, with that having been said, I don't know that I'd want to live in the middle of nowhere, there is a lower size limit, but my rule of thumb would be that I wouldn't want to live in a town that I couldn't walk briskly from one end to the other of in an hour or so.

I do live in a small city--for example, it's too big for Simon to briskly walk across in an hour--though he could walk to Illinois and back in that time, watching the bald eagles come "home" for the winter nesting as he does so.

Simon--I "walk briskly" from one end of Manhattan to the other every day.

Of course, this is from West to East, not North to South, but still.

I get more done in an hour than someone stuck in traffic for hours every day.

But, yes, of course there are tradeoffs. And of course preferences are personal. I wasn't trying to impugn any person's choice not to live in a city. I was only commenting on the change in scenery from midwestern college campus to urbanity. I'll take urbanity over suburbia or rural America.

I'd assume, since it was the focus of the picture, that shopping is the reason for the visit. But, I guess there might be a conference or speaking opportunity at Northwestern Law (right down the block).

If it's the latter, and something that would be open to the public, please let us know.

Dave said..."Simon--I "walk briskly" from one end of Manhattan to the other every day."

Yes, but Dave - the city doesn't end at the river. ;) You cross the river, and it's all open fields beyond that, right? ;)

I had thought that Manhattan was but the central hub of a giant urban conurbation that stretches through Long Island in the east, to Mount Vernon in the North, and to at very least New Brunswick in the south? :p